John 1:1

Read the Bible. Follow its connections.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”John 1:1 · Berean Standard Bible

Read a verse. Follow an echo. Compare the passages, open their context, and keep a path you can return to.

Download on the App Store

Free for iPhone · Read fully offline
No ads. No accounts. No in-app purchases.

See today’s connection →

Two directions. One text.

Read in sequence, or follow a relationship to another passage.

Linear · swipe up

Read what comes next.

Genesis 1:1, then Genesis 1:2. Swipe up to continue through the text in its own order.

Lateral · swipe sideways

Read what connects.

Follow a quotation, an echo, a shared person or place. Preview connections earlier and later in Scripture, then follow the one you want to examine.

“Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep.”Genesis 1:2 · excerpt, BSB
“I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light.”Jeremiah 4:23 · BSB

One swipe from Genesis 1:2 to Jeremiah 4:23 crosses 19,049 verses—about 61% of the Bible. An echo becomes easier to see.

Follow a connection. Examine it.

The current app gives you room to see why two passages belong together—and to read beyond the pair.

Compare the words.

Bring both passages into view. See shared wording highlighted where it appears in the selected translation, and inspect the recorded basis for the connection.

Read the context.

Read either passage in context and return to the comparison. Follow the connected verse to keep reading, then return to your previous reading point.

Keep the path.

Save and revisit a reading path. Share a verse, a connected pair, or the path itself. Change translations without losing your place in the thread.

31,102verse references
292,374ranked, directed connections
10translations
7languages

The whole library, on your phone.

English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and now Traditional Chinese. The text and connections are bundled in the app.

See all ten translations

EnglishBerean Standard Bible · King James Version · American Standard Version · World English Bible

Traditional Chinese · 繁體中文Chinese Union Version, new punctuation
新標點和合本（上帝版）

German · DeutschLuther 1912

French · FrançaisSegond 1910

Spanish · EspañolReina-Valera 1909

Italian · ItalianoRiveduta 1927

Portuguese · PortuguêsBíblia Portuguesa Mundial

Traditional Chinese preserves its own passage numbering and joined verses. Shared-word highlights use the words actually present in the edition you are reading.

Start with a daily verse, find a passage by reference or search its words, and follow where it leads.

Current release: 1.16. The verse count describes the app’s common reference system; individual editions can join or omit verses.

The experiment

A text has more than one order.

The Bible has been part of successive changes in reading: early Christians’ adoption of the codex, Gutenberg’s printed Bible, and the verse numbers that made individual passages easy to locate.

John 1:1 explores what the phone can add. The sequence stays intact; the relationships become a second way through it. The question is how to surface a connection whose meaning a reader can see and judge.

Read about lateral reading and how the connections are ranked →

Inside the current app.

Screens from John 1:1, version 1.16.

Compare John 1:1 with Genesis 1:1, with In the beginning highlighted in both passages
Compare passages and inspect the evidence.
Read in context shows John 1:1 through John 1:3, with a link back to the comparison
Read the surrounding verses, then return.
John 1:1 in Traditional Chinese with earlier and later connection previews
Follow the text in Traditional Chinese.
Watch the original reading demonstration and trailer

These earlier recordings show the two directions of reading. The current app also includes the comparison, context, path, and language features above.

Reading in the app · earlier version
The original trailer

The Word should be free.

No ads, no account, and nothing to buy. There are no plans to monetize the app.

Download on the App Store

Reading works fully offline. The app collects anonymous usage counts;
read the privacy policy for details.